Some months ago, I began challenging myself with Spotify puzzles: at that time I was dealing with an easy problem; now, the difficulty has increased. The round two consists in the typical “Selection problem“: given an array of values, find the max (or min) k values. I decided to still use Python and to use … Continue reading Spotify puzzles: round two
Viaggiatreno Ruby gem: version 1.0.5
On the background of all my activities, I continued the developing of viaggiatreno, a Ruby gem to parse Italian railway real-time system information of the status of the various trains: location, delay, expected and real arrival time. Yesterday I released the version 1.0.5 of this gem, which improves the overall code quality of this gem … Continue reading Viaggiatreno Ruby gem: version 1.0.5
Packaging software for Debian/Ubuntu: eclipse
Eclipse is my (Java, Python, Ruby, XML, <insert any other text format here) editor of choice, and it has been for many years. One thing that bothers me is that Eclipse package is outdated in Ubuntu: so, instead of using apt, I should resort to download/unpack/copy/create links to install it. These days are finished, though. … Continue reading Packaging software for Debian/Ubuntu: eclipse
Workaround for OpenVPN PAM authentication broken on Ubuntu 15.10
After updating to Ubuntu 15.10 a box with an OpenVPN termination I am using to browse when I travel and use insecure networks, my VPN tunnel stops working. I am using, in this particular box, an OpenVPN server that relies on PAM plugin for authentication (and 2-step verification). Given the fact that I keep all … Continue reading Workaround for OpenVPN PAM authentication broken on Ubuntu 15.10
Dan Pink: The puzzle of motivation
I normally watch a lot of videos (and listen to a lot of podcasts) from TED, a set of conferences about Technology, Entertainment and Design. Today I had a chance to watch a very talented speaker, Dan Pink, who delivered a mind-blowing presentation about motivation, business and science. This is a presentation from 2009: if … Continue reading Dan Pink: The puzzle of motivation
Getting started with cloud-init and CoreOS
Lately I’ve been experimenting with CoreOS, a Linux distribution that enforces containerization (I made some experiments with Docker and I’d say that this area is fun!). CoreOS layer of containerization was based Docker, but now that they moved to Rocket. Not only Rocket, though: CoreOS brings some curious innovations to lightweight Linux distributions like clusterization … Continue reading Getting started with cloud-init and CoreOS
Fun with Python powered telnetd honeypot
Reason: hardening, serendipity and curiosity As you already know, in the past weeks I hardened all of my boxes: while doing it, I flushed all iptables/ipfw rules, changed the default policy to DROP and take it from there to enable every rule as soon as I need it. Whilst Ubuntu uses ufw as a fronted … Continue reading Fun with Python powered telnetd honeypot
Convert Java to EXE – Why, When, When Not and How
Today I come across this great article on the various possibilities we have, as developers, to package a Java application in an executable format for all Windows users out there. I have always used JSmooth with success, but it is nice to discover there are more alternatives (and some of them are OSS too!).
Playing with Docker: tips and tricks to write effective Dockerfiles
Recently I have been playing with Docker containers, and I am sure you already know what Docker is. In this post I will describe what I have learnt while using Docker containers and preparing Dockerfiles. What is Docker? In a few words: Docker is a software to manage and run Linux containers in which you … Continue reading Playing with Docker: tips and tricks to write effective Dockerfiles
Hardening services: let’s review our config files
It’s hardening Sunday here: I reviewed the config files of my main daemons (nginx, openvpn, tinc, sshd) with the help of two resources that I want to share with you, fellow readers. First of all, a guide dedicated exclusively to hardening ssh: from using public key authentication only (I strictly encourage it!) to the selection … Continue reading Hardening services: let’s review our config files